The Irascible
Professor has learned that in response to the California state budget compromise,
which further reduced funding for public higher education, the Fullerton
campus of the California State University has closed all enrollment for
the spring 2004 semester. In addition, the campus plans to cut an
additional 320 class sections this academic year. In response to
previous budget projections, the campus already was in the process of reducing
the number of course sections offered by 10% from the previous year.

Cal State Fullerton
had been one of the most rapidly growing campuses in the 23 campus California
State University system. Its president, Milton A. Gordon, had instituted
an aggressive growth policy during the past several years. Under
this policy, which focused on "access", campus enrollment regularly exceeded
budgeted targets from the CSU Chancellor's Office. This was done
in the expectation that additional fund would be forthcoming for these
"extra" students in subsequent years.

One of the factors
driving this growth policy was an anomaly in the way the CSU System funded
the Fullerton campus. For many years the dollar amount received by
the Fullerton campus for each enrolled student was substantially below
the system average. After assuming the presidency at Fullerton, Gordon
was able to work out a deal with then Chancellor Barry Munitz that ensured
that Fullerton would receive per student funding at the average amount
for the system for each student enrolled above a 16,000 full-time equivalent
student baseline. The baseline, however, would continue to be funded
at the lower rate.

The new directive
from the Chancellor's Office requires all campuses to stay within their
assigned enrollment targets because funds for enrollment growth have been
axed from the budget by the legislature. This new policy will impact
the Fullerton campus especially hard because it already has admitted a
large number of students in excess of its previous targets. Thus
Fullerton students, in many cases, will not be able to enroll in all the
classes that they normally would. This will delay graduation for
many students. In addition to having to pay a 30% increase in tuition
(on top of a 25% increase imposed last year), students who are forced to
take additional semesters to graduate must pay the higher tuition for each
of those additional semesters.